This Must Be the Place

When I started to travel more a few years ago, I got into the habit of imagining myself in the spaces I would soon encounter – a process that always clashed with the experience itself. The mountains seemed smaller, the color less vibrant, the noise too distracting. In a world where we can easily pre-see anywhere we wish to go ourselves, travel boils down to coming to terms with places we already know.

Rather than focus on taking photos of these places that had already been overwhelming documented, I began to turn my camera toward those around me to document that moment when they’ve decided that they’ve finally arrived in that intended place.

The tourist walks to the edge of the railing, draws a camera to his or her face, and thinks, “This must be the place.”